It’s fun to fly small Hubsan H501 drones and watch them hovering over the sky, capturing an amazing aerial view.
However, if you own a Hubsan H501S, you may have encountered problems related to its SD cards and video quality. Often the users complain about how frustrating it gets when their Hubsan drone suddenly stops recording videos or delivers poor video quality.
This post shares the solutions for common Hubsan video problems such as H501S SD card not working, Hubsan won’t record, H501S video not playing, video choppy, corrupt, black screen, and others.
You can apply these solutions to any model and variant of Hubsan drone cameras including Hubsan H501S video problems.
Problem 1: Hubsan H501S is not saving videos, SD card not working
‘I can’t find the recorded videos in my Hubsan H501. Although, I am using a brand new SD card and the drone transmitter screen can recognize the card too. I have tried many times indoors to get the camera to work but to no avail.’
Solution 1: Check if you are using the right SD card
Every model of Hubsan drone camera has an SD card recommendation. Make sure you are using the right one as per your drone model. You may opt for 32GB Class 10 SanDisk, Samsung, Kingston, Transcend, etc.
For the Hubsan H501S model, your SD card should be:
- Minimum 16GB and below 64GB
- Class 4 or higher and
- exFAT file system
For H501SS or an H501A, the SD card should be:
- Minimum 16GB and below 64GB
- Class 10 or higher and
- FAT32 file system
Solution 2: Properly insert the SD card in Hubsan H501S
Most of the recording issues in Hubsan occur due to improper usage of the SD card. Make sure you are practicing the below while inserting or removing the SD card from the drone:
- Insert the SD card when Hubsan is powered off.
- Don’t turn off Hubsan H501S as soon as it lands. Wait for about three minutes before you turn off the power.
- First, turn off Hubsan H501, then remove the SD card from it.
Problem 2: Hubsan H501S is recording choppy, jerky videos
My new Hubsan H501SS could shoot great videos earlier. But recently, it started recording choppy videos. How can I make my H501SS record the perfect videos like before?
Solution 1: Reformat Hubsan SD card & keep the Volume label empty
Have you recently performed an H501S SD card format?
Maybe, during the formatting, you’d assigned any Volume label to the SD card, which is now causing the video recording problem.
Reformat your SD card keep the Volume label box space empty this time, and set the Allocation unit size to 32KB.
The drone should record videos perfectly now. Many users have found Volume label entries and wrong Allocation units as the cause of choppy and jerky video recordings.
Caution: Formatting erases all the files on the SD card. Make sure you have taken a backup of the stored videos before formatting your Hubsan SD card.
Steps to reformat Hubsan H501S SD card:
- Connect the Hubsan SD card to the computer via a card reader
- Open Windows Explorer
- Right-click on the drive letter for your Hubsan SD card
- Click Format. Format window appears
- Set the File System and Allocation unit size
For the Hubsan H501S model, enter exFAT in the File system, set the 32KB Allocation unit size, and keep the Volume label area blank.
For H501SS or an H501A SD card, enter: FAT32 in the File system, 32KB Allocation unit size, and keep the Volume label area blank.
- Click on A data loss warning dialog box appears and click OK
- Now, insert your SD into the Hubsan H501S. It should record the videos fine.
Solution 2: Change the SD card
Are you using a low-capacity Class SD card? If yes, change it. It is ideal to record your videos on at least a 32 GB Class 10 microSD card, below which the Hubsan drones don’t record properly.
Once you change the SD card, problems like choppy, jumpy, and broken videos should be fixed.
Problem 3: Hubsan H501S videos are corrupt, and won’t play
I transferred videos taken with my Hubsan H501S to the PC. But some of the videos won’t play on PC. It states ‘video is corrupt’. However, the videos were playing fine on the drone camera. How can I repair the corrupt Hubsan videos?
Solution 1: Use a professional video repair software
An improper video transfer from your drone to a computer can corrupt the video file. Sometimes, battery drip or drone crash during the recording can also corrupt your Hubsan videos. In any case, a corrupt video shot with the Hubsan H501 drone can be repaired by using video repair software.
You can fix choppy, truncated, broken, jittery, grainy, erroneous, or any other kind of corrupt video with the help of professional software such as Stellar Repair for Video.
Steps to fix corrupt Hubsan H501s videos:
- Connect the Hubsan SD card to the PC/ Mac via a card reader. You can also choose to first transfer your drone’s corrupt video on a computer drive.
- Download and launch Stellar Repair for Video on your computer. Choose the macOS or Windows version as per your machine.
- On the main screen of the software, click Add File
- Select Repair
- Preview and Save the repaired video at your desired location.
You can add multiple corrupt videos of the same or different video formats at a time and fix them simultaneously. The software can repair corrupt MP4, MOV, FLV, AVI, MKV, AVCHD, MJPEG, and many other drone video file formats.
This method repairs even high-quality videos (UHD1280x720P, 1920x1080P) shot with any model of Hubsan drone. The software supports Hubsan H501S, H501S X4 Air Pro, Hubsan X4 H502E Desire, Hubsan H109S X4 Pro, Hubsan Zino, Hubsan X4 H107D and others.
Solution 2: Use VLC Media Player to fix corrupt H501 videos
The free VLC Media Player can fix minor glitches in your videos. If your Hubsan video file is MP4 or MOV, first rename it to AVI. Next, follow the below steps to repair corrupt videos in VLC Media Player:
- Open the AVI file in the VLC Media Player
- Go to Tools
- Select Preference > Input & Codecs
- Next to Repair AVI files, choose Always Fix
Check the saved video, it should play fine now. If not, download Stellar Repair for Video to fix the problem.
Wrapping up
It is essential to use the recommended quality SD card from a trusted brand for error-free recording in any Hubsan drone including H501S/SS. Follow the practice to properly insert and remove the storage card from the drone. Allow Hubsan to properly save the video before you turn off the camera.
Further, keep the Volume label empty and set the Allocation unit to 32KB while formatting.
Whenever Hubsan H501S/SS videos get corrupt, choppy, grainy, flickering, etc., due to any reason, always use professional video repair software such as Stellar Repair for Video. The DIY software is 100% safe and works on the file formats of Hubsan drones.
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